Minister says 160,000MW possible by 2014

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, on Thursday said Nigeria was capable of generating 160,000 megawatts before the end of 2014.

Nebo made the remark in Abuja at the Nigeria International 4th Power Expo and Conference organised by the Ministry of Power and BKG Company.

“Two weeks ago, the Geregu Power Plant was commissioned by Mr President and he would commission all the 10 NIPPs’ power plants by the end of 2014.

“Nigeria produces and consumes 4,000 mw of electricity, only 2.5 per cent of what South Africa is producing and consuming.

“Nigeria needs to increase electricity generation by 40 joules before the end of 2014, then it would be talking of 160,000 mw”, he said.

Nebo stressed that opportunities to make this happen abound in the country, adding that this also depended on investors venture into power sector by utilising the 4th expo conference.

Nebo added that the services companies – generation, transmission and distribution network – were to ensure that all the plants were running very well.

He stated that the ministry was partnering with investors to ensure that rural areas not connected to national grid were connected even to renewable sources of electricity.

He listed the renewable energy sources as biomass, solar, gas turbine, hydro turbine and wind, among others.

Nebo said that when the rural communities of Nigeria had been electrified, it would have multiplier effects on development, stressing that income, standard of living and job opportunities would increase.

He said that President Goodluck Jonathan in inaugurated Power Sector Roadmap in Aug. 2010 in order to liberalise the sector from public driven economy to private driven one.

He said there were only 150,000 telephone lines for over 150 million people when NITEL was not privatised, but with privation, the country now had over 120 million lines.

Earlier, Mr Ifeanyi Agwu, the Executive Director of BKG, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for ensuring that the power sector was privatised. (NAN)